A Humane NationHSUS President and CEO Wayne Pacelle’s Blog2017-08-17T22:03:39Zhttps://blog.humanesociety.org/feed/atomWordPressSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesWayne Pacellehttps://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91952017-08-17T22:03:39Z2017-08-17T21:46:13Z

Senior dogs have their own special attributes, since many were once in loving homes and therefore require little training or time to adjust. Pictured above, Andrea, one of the dogs flying to the U.S. mainland as part of Operation Grey Muzzle. Photo by Kimberley Alboum/The HSUS

In our latest maneuver of this type, The HSUS is helping engineer, with some incredible partners, the transport of more than 200 dogs in need from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States. Next week, two planes will depart from Puerto Rico – one set to land in Florida, the other in North Carolina – . . .

]]><img width="310" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Andrea-new-310x413.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt=""><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Senior dogs have their own special attributes, since many were once in loving homes and therefore require little training or time to adjust. Pictured above, Andrea, one of the dogs flying to the U.S. mainland as part of Operation Grey Muzzle. <span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;">Photo by Kimberley Alboum/The HSUS</span></p><p>In our latest maneuver of this type, The HSUS is helping engineer, with some incredible partners, the transport of more than 200 dogs in need from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States. Next week, two planes will depart from Puerto Rico &ndash; one set to land in Florida, the other in North Carolina &ndash; and they&rsquo;ll have a lot of senior citizens on board, ready to take a nap in a new home.</p><p>The transport has been dubbed &ldquo;Operation Grey Muzzle&rdquo; because of the large number of older dogs on board. The coalition, which includes The HSUS, <a href="https://www.wingsofrescue.org/">Wings of Rescue</a>, <a href="https://www.thesatoproject.org/">The Sato Project</a>, the <a href="https://nodogleftbehind.org/">Pittsburgh Aviation Animal Rescue Team</a>, <a href="http://www.graceparkanimalhospital.com/">Grace Park Animal Hospital of North Carolina</a>, <a href="http://www.greymuzzle.org/">The Grey Muzzle Organization</a>, <a href="http://GreaterGood.org">Greater Good</a>, the <a href="http://humanebroward.com/">Humane Society of Broward County</a>, and the <a href="http://humanesocietyofcharlotte.org/">Humane Society of Charlotte</a>, was determined to transport the animals, who had been long-term residents of the <a href="http://sasfapr.org/">Santuario de Animales San Francisco de As&iacute;s</a>, a Puerto Rican animal welfare operation. The sanctuary is in desperate need of repair and renovation, and leaders of the group cannot take on that project without relieving the sanctuary of the burden of care for some of the animals, and freeing up space for refurbishing.</p><p>We also worked with other shelters, including Villa Michelle in Mayaguez, to move additional animals out of the Commonwealth. The facility sits atop a mountain and has a beautiful view but very little foot traffic, so there is only a very remote chance that animals waiting there will find a loving home in the community.</p><p><a href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/08/hsus-emergency-placement-partners.html?credit=blog_em_081717_id9195">HSUS Emergency Placement Partners</a> are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to take the senior dogs into their programs. Senior dogs have their own special attributes, since many were once in loving homes and therefore require little training or time to adjust. Perhaps it is the grey muzzles that we all find so alluring. They have a story to tell and are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to spend their remaining years on the couch or in a favorite chair. (I adopted my Lily as a senior pet, because I knew others might not be interested in her as she&rsquo;s not a puppy.)</p><p>I want to be clear, we cannot transport away the pet overpopulation in Puerto Rico. Operation Grey Muzzle is only one element in a matrix of programs that constitute the <a href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/07/revolution-animal-welfare-puerto-rico.html?credit=blog_em_081717_id9195">HSUS Humane Puerto Rico initiative</a>. &ldquo;It is not just about transfer, it is about transformation,&rdquo; says Inga Fricke, HSUS Director of Pet Retention Programs and a member of the Humane State team. Our team will continue to work the multi-pronged approach of helping the animals while helping the people of Puerto Rico address pet overpopulation. The transport on Wednesday will also raise awareness about the wonderful pets of Puerto Rico.</p><p>Here are some other victories and accomplishment for the animals of Puerto Rico through the HSUS Humane State Program:</p><p><strong>Humane education:</strong> The program has trained 2,000 teachers, social workers, and directors in humane education, and provided educational materials for younger children in every K-6 public school classroom (500,000 students).</p><p><strong>Law enforcement: </strong> We signed an executive order with the governor of Puerto Rico in 2015, calling for the well-being and protection of animals. This order calls for all branches of government, including municipalities, to provide humane education training and to work to develop a more humane island in conjunction with The HSUS. The Humane State Team has trained 2,050 prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials on animal cruelty issues.</p><p><strong>Shelter and rescue: </strong>Experts from The HSUS have provided training to shelter/rescue workers in compassion fatigue, volunteer engagement, social media, working with law enforcement, and creating humane communities. We have also provided computers/printers/software to partner shelters and trained them in standardizing their reporting methods and in better ways to track euthanasia rates. We have and continue to provide grants and funding for spay/neuter/vaccine efforts, and equipment for handling animals, to shelters on the island.</p><p><strong>The Sister Shelter Project:</strong> We have paired 11 stateside shelters with nine shelters in Puerto Rico as part of a three-year mentorship program created in partnership with Maddie&rsquo;s Fund. The program provides resources, support, and travel to partner shelters stateside, and equipment, shelter medicine support, vaccines, and capital repairs to the Puerto Rico shelters.</p><p>Our Humane Puerto Rico Program is now embedded in the Commonwealth, and it has so many dimensions. I&rsquo;m most excited to see Operation Grey Muzzle as its latest, endearing feature, and am especially grateful for our partners and for future adopters on the mainland.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/humane-puerto-ricos-latest-offensive-saving-older-dogs-adopting-mainland.html">Humane Puerto Rico’s latest offensive – saving older dogs by adopting them on the mainland</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/hsus/wayne/~4/jBcX0RWRnnw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Andrea-new-e1503005803897-300x200.jpg0https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/humane-puerto-ricos-latest-offensive-saving-older-dogs-adopting-mainland.html?credit=blog_em_081717_id9195Wayne Pacellehttp://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91882017-08-16T21:41:42Z2017-08-16T19:39:03Z

Inside the filthy dog collection depot, four newborn puppies huddled together in the dirt. The trader was so callous that he didn’t even offer the animals a few old newspapers to give them some small comfort.

As we build momentum for U.S. legislation to ban the trade in dog and cat meat in the United States (H.R. 1406 now has 150 cosponsors in the U.S. House), Humane Society International and its partners on the ground in Asia continue to save dogs and build the case for ending the entire, miserable trade. . . .

]]><img width="573" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/In-Depot-11ab-e1502911886952-573x413.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/In-Depot-11ab-e1502911886952-573x413.jpg 573w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/In-Depot-11ab-e1502911886952-277x200.jpg 277w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/In-Depot-11ab-e1502911886952-768x554.jpg 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/In-Depot-11ab-e1502911886952.jpg 976w" sizes="(max-width: 573px) 100vw, 573px"><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Inside the filthy dog collection depot, four newborn puppies huddled together in the dirt. The trader was so callous that he didn&rsquo;t even offer the animals a few old newspapers to give them some small comfort. <span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;"> </span></p><p>As we build momentum for <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/03/lawmakers-target-dog-meat-trade-united-states.html?credit=blog_em_081617_id9188">U.S. legislation to ban the trade in dog and cat meat </a>in the United States (H.R. 1406 now has 150 cosponsors in the U.S. House), Humane Society International and its partners on the ground in Asia continue to save dogs and build the case for ending the entire, miserable trade. Last week, Chinese animal protection groups in Beijing uncovered a horrific sight in an abandoned vegetable warehouse in Changping, a rural township on the city&rsquo;s outskirts: unscrupulous dog meat traders were holding dozens of dogs, including four puppies, inside a filthy, decrepit shed. This was a dog collection depot for animals on their way to the dog meat trade.</p><p>The meat traders chained and caged the dogs in the shed, which was fouled with garbage and was a bait site for flies.</p><p>According to our partner organizations, many of the dogs displayed behaviors typical of household pets, indicating they could have been stolen. One dog, who had given birth to four puppies in a pit on the ground, was chained and could barely sit down in that pit to nurse her babies. The puppies huddled together in the dirt. The trader was so miserly and callous that he didn&rsquo;t even offer the animals a few old newspapers or something else to give them some small comfort.</p><p>Beijing&rsquo;s Capital Animal Welfare Association (CAWA), a member of the China Animal Protection Power (CAPP) coalition that had discovered the dogs, and a long-time partner of HSI, reported the warehouse to Beijing police, who quickly intervened and confiscated the animals on August 12.</p><div id="attachment_9190" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 620px;"><a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Unloading-at-HSI-facility-in-Dalian-6.jpg?credit=blog_em_081617_id9188"><img class="size-medium wp-image-9190" src="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Unloading-at-HSI-facility-in-Dalian-6-620x413.jpg" alt="" width="620" height="413" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Unloading-at-HSI-facility-in-Dalian-6-620x413.jpg 620w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Unloading-at-HSI-facility-in-Dalian-6-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Unloading-at-HSI-facility-in-Dalian-6-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Unloading-at-HSI-facility-in-Dalian-6-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Unloading-at-HSI-facility-in-Dalian-6-1220x813.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px"></a><p class="wp-caption-text" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px; text-align: left; font-style: italic;">A dog rescued from the dog collection depot receives medical care at the HSI rehabilitation facility. <span class="wayne-media-credit"></span></p></div><p>This depot, and others like it, serve as an integral link in the dog meat enterprise. From these depots, dogs go to the country&rsquo;s major dog meat markets in South, Central, and Northeast China.</p><p>The closing of this depot is significant also because it reflects the emerging spirit of cooperation between Chinese authorities and animal activists working together to thwart dog meat traders and their <a href="http://www.hsi.org/issues/dog_meat/facts/dog-meat-trade-faqs.html">largely illegal industry</a>. Soon after the Beijing police helped close the depot last week, China&rsquo;s public security ministry sent a report praising the action.</p><p>So far, working with authorities, activists have rescued more than 4,000 dogs from trucks and markets. Just last month, CAPP assisted local groups with the rescue of more than 200 dogs from a truck in Hunan that was bound for the dog meat trade. Local law enforcement penalized the dog meat traders and handed all the rescued animals to the care of the activists.</p><p>HSI, working with CAPP, has been leading a global campaign <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/03/south-korea-indonesia-fronts-dog-meat-battle.html?credit=blog_em_081617_id9188">against the dog meat trade </a>and particularly the <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/06/new-signs-hope-despair-dog-cat-meat-trade-china-yulin-festival-looming.html?credit=blog_em_081617_id9188">Yulin dog meat festival</a>. Over the past few years, meat traders have slaughtered many fewer dogs, and that is partly explained by the growing international criticism that surrounds the spectacle. In a letter to the director of CAWA, the Yulin municipal government agreed that the festival is not part of the city&rsquo;s folk culture. &ldquo;Consumption of dog meat&hellip;on the summer solstice day is at best the dietary habit of a small number of people in Yulin,&rdquo; the letter said. Authorities also confirmed in that letter that highway checkpoints had been instituted, at CAWA&rsquo;s request, to prevent inbound dog trucks.</p><p>Chinese authorities took the 26 dogs rescued from the dog collection depot and placed them in a rehabilitation facility that HSI built in 2016, where they will be placed for adoption or, in case of any pet dogs who were stolen, reunited with their families where possible. While we cannot rescue every one of the millions of dogs caught up in the dog meat trade, we are encouraged and heartened by this growing interest from the Chinese authorities in working with animal protection groups who are trying to end it. Every rescue and every exposure of cruelty is one more hammer blow against the trade. With enough blows, this wall will topple. And dogs will be spared more misery and barbaric treatment.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/china-activists-work-authorities-shut-dog-meat-trade.html">In China, activists work with authorities to chip away at dog meat trade</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/hsus/wayne/~4/zIw66Ku2MrM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/In-Depot-11ab-e1502911886952-277x200.jpg2https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/china-activists-work-authorities-shut-dog-meat-trade.html?credit=blog_em_081617_id9188Wayne Pacellehttp://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91862017-08-15T20:17:36Z2017-08-15T20:17:36Z

Each year, thousands of tourists flock to British Columbia's lush forests to participate in grizzly-bear-viewing expeditions. The bear-viewing industry brings in 12 times more direct revenue to the province than trophy hunting.Photo by Tom Mangelsen/www.mangelsen.com

This week, British Columbia’s newly formed government, responding to the will of an overwhelming majority of the province’s citizens and following through on its own campaign promise, announced a ban on all trophy hunting of grizzly bears there, starting in November. Under the prior Liberal government, B.C. had become the world’s grizzly-bear-hunting hub, with trophy . . .

]]><img width="620" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MANGELSEN-PG023_20080510_20120140_339897-620x413.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MANGELSEN-PG023_20080510_20120140_339897-620x413.jpg 620w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MANGELSEN-PG023_20080510_20120140_339897-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MANGELSEN-PG023_20080510_20120140_339897-768x511.jpg 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MANGELSEN-PG023_20080510_20120140_339897-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MANGELSEN-PG023_20080510_20120140_339897-1220x812.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px"><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Each year, thousands of tourists flock to British Columbia's lush forests to participate in grizzly-bear-viewing expeditions. The bear-viewing industry brings in 12 times more direct revenue to the province than trophy hunting.
<span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;">Photo by Tom Mangelsen/www.mangelsen.com</span></p><p>This week, British Columbia&rsquo;s newly formed government, responding to the will of an overwhelming majority of the province&rsquo;s citizens and following through on its own <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/news/releases/2016/11/ndp_grizzly_bear_trophy_ban_proposal_112416.html">campaign promise</a>, announced a ban on all trophy hunting of grizzly bears there, starting in November.</p><p>Under the prior Liberal government, B.C. had become the world&rsquo;s grizzly-bear-hunting hub, with trophy hunters killing 250 of the great bears a year, even within renowned provincial parks and protected areas and, most brazenly, in the Great Bear Rainforest, where <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/news/releases/2010/02/bear_hunt_not_sport_21610.html">Coastal First Nations have vehemently opposed trophy hunting of bears</a>.</p><p>This is a signature win for animal protection groups (including Humane Society International/Canada, which worked for this outcome), and for the more than 90 percent of B.C. residents who <a href="http://www.insightswest.com/news/british-columbians-and-albertans-condemn-trophy-hunting/">opposed trophy hunting</a>. Polling revealed that opponents of the practice include an overwhelming majority of residents of rural communities with strong hunting traditions. All of this is an emphatic reminder to the U.S. government and to our northern Rockies states not to proceed with a trophy hunt for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, which may be enabled with the <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/06/see-court-hsus-tells-feds-grizzly-bear-plans.html?credit=blog_em_081517_id9186">recent delisting of bears</a> there from the ranks of threatened and endangered species.</p><p>There is no justification for the cruelty of trophy hunting, and the utterly gratuitous nature of the killing. In 2015, the world watched in horror as a <a href="http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/grizzly-bear-hunt-video-goes-viral-after-release-by-b-c-animal-rights-group-1.2556196">video</a> showed a wounded grizzly bear thrashing in agony as she tumbles down a hill, her blood smearing the snow, while the men who shot her cheer the outcome. Other, similarly jarring videos, showing wounded bears suffering in agony while trophy hunters rejoice, live on YouTube for anyone to see.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not just a moral issue, it&rsquo;s also an economic one. Each year, thousands flock to B.C.&rsquo;s lush forests to participate in grizzly-bear-viewing expeditions. The bear-viewing industry brings in 12 times more direct revenue to the province than trophy hunting. There are millions of people throughout North America and the world who&rsquo;d pay handsomely for an opportunity to see a grizzly in the wild, while only a few thousand people wish to slay these bears as a head-hunting exercise. The economic potential of an industry built around bear watching is vast, while the killing industry is small and receding and also a threat to the larger wildlife-watching enterprise.</p><p>HSI/Canada has worked for more than a decade to bring down the trophy hunting industry in British Columbia and other provinces. More than 10,000 supporters of <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/">HSI/Canada</a> signed a letter to B.C. premier Christy Clark, asking her to ban the hunt, and HSI, with other partners, participated in the delivery of over 70,000 signatures to the B.C. legislature in April, <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/news/releases/2017/04/british-columbia-grizzly-bear-petition-delivery-042717.html">calling for a ban on grizzly bear trophy hunting</a>. While much remains to be clarified about the recent announcement, HSI is determined to work with the B.C. government to ensure that grizzlies are truly protected from all forms of trophy hunting.</p><p>This victory for grizzlies comes close on the heels of other notable wins wildlife in the past couple of weeks. Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/federal-appeals-court-maintains-protections-great-lakes-wolves.html?credit=blog_em_081517_id9186">federal protections for wolves under the Endangered Species Act should be maintained</a> for 4,000 or so wolves inhabiting the northern reaches of the boreal forests of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Also on Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that Endangered Species Act protections clearly extend to grizzly bears kept in captivity, even though those facilities also must meet the minimum standards of humane treatment set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Animal Welfare Act, as advocated by HSUS attorneys in an amicus curiae brief. On Friday, Illinois became the first state in the United States to ban the use of elephants in circuses and other traveling acts, when Gov. Bruce Rauner <a href="http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2017/08/14/circus-elephants-take-final-bow-illinois">signed a landmark bill </a>prohibiting this practice. And on August 1, the Czech Republic became the latest country to ban fur farming, a policy that, when it takes effect, will spare 20,000 foxes and mink from being raised and killed for the fur trade.</p><p>These are all indicators that the world is waking up to the plight of animals. Our task is far from complete, but these wins should stir the hopes of all of us who imagine a day when we recognize the rightful place of other creatures on our planet and treat them with respect and dignity.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/british-columbia-hunting-ban-grizzlies-latest-rapid-fire-series-gains-animals.html">British Columbia’s hunting ban on grizzlies the latest in rapid-fire series of gains for animals</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/hsus/wayne/~4/Xo-r1TXYgPE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MANGELSEN-PG023_20080510_20120140_339897-300x200.jpg1https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/british-columbia-hunting-ban-grizzlies-latest-rapid-fire-series-gains-animals.html?credit=blog_em_081517_id9186Wayne Pacellehttp://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91842017-08-14T17:27:34Z2017-08-14T17:27:34Z

The National Pork Producers Council and other players in Big Ag are frightened by the idea of animal advocates and thousands of American farmers uniting to call for agricultural practices that make more sense for animals and for rural communities. Photo by iStockphoto

Since a dozen or so hoofed mammals and the red jungle fowl were domesticated for use in agriculture starting 10,000 years ago, humanity has put animals ever more squarely at the center of the human experience. By conscripting other species for meat, eggs, labor, and other purposes, ancient civilizations assumed duties and responsibilities to animals, . . .

]]><img width="614" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PIG-ISTOCK_000002432631_291767-e1502731207228-614x413.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PIG-ISTOCK_000002432631_291767-e1502731207228-614x413.jpg 614w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PIG-ISTOCK_000002432631_291767-e1502731207228-298x200.jpg 298w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PIG-ISTOCK_000002432631_291767-e1502731207228-768x516.jpg 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PIG-ISTOCK_000002432631_291767-e1502731207228-1190x800.jpg 1190w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PIG-ISTOCK_000002432631_291767-e1502731207228-1220x820.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 614px) 100vw, 614px"><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">The National Pork Producers Council and other players in Big Ag are frightened by the idea of animal advocates and thousands of American farmers uniting to call for agricultural practices that make more sense for animals and for rural communities. <span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;">Photo by iStockphoto</span></p><p>Since a dozen or so hoofed mammals and the red jungle fowl were domesticated for use in agriculture starting 10,000 years ago, humanity has put animals ever more squarely at the center of the human experience. By conscripting other species for meat, eggs, labor, and other purposes, ancient civilizations assumed duties and responsibilities to animals, including providing them with food and other forms of care and safety. Yes, at some point, the animals would be slaughtered for food, but there was an unwritten code to treat them with dignity, and to even pray for them in the end. These tenets and credos are enshrined in the Bible (to mention just one primary religious source), in which God makes covenants with animals, blesses them, and declares them &ldquo;good,&rdquo; thus providing guidance to people in dealing with all creatures great and small.</p><p>For millennia, and really until about 60 years ago, agriculture occurred on a scale that allowed the farmer, if he and the rest of his family were conscientious, to attend to the needs of the animals. Except for the immediate run-up to slaughter, the goal of a responsible steward and shepherd was to make life not simply tolerable for animals but also free of pain and deprivation.</p><p>Since the advent of industrial agriculture, that equation changed. &ldquo;Animal husbandry&rdquo; turned into &ldquo;meat science,&rdquo; and we reduced animals to meat-, milk-, and egg-producing machines. Industrial farmers, in their quest for efficiency and without intentional malice, brought pain and privation to the animals much earlier in their short lifespans. In fact, we as a society have made misery routine in the <a href="http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/?credit=blog_em_081417_id9184">most extreme confinement systems</a>.</p><p>Since I became president of The HSUS 13 years ago, it&rsquo;s been a core part of our mission to turn around the problems in animal agriculture. It&rsquo;s a daunting task, but there&rsquo;s been unmistakable progress, with the hope of more to come.</p><p>We&rsquo;ve <a href="http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/timelines/timeline_farm_animal_protection.html?credit=blog_em_081417_id9184">worked with the major players in the food retail sector</a> to call upon them to adopt minimum standards of animal treatment in their supply chains. No extreme confinement of veal calves, breeding sows, and laying hens. No tail docking of dairy cows. No more particularly inhumane methods of slaughter. No more breeding of animals for very fast growth and body dysmorphism and chronic pain. Today, more than 300 of the biggest retailers have embraced major reforms and validated the idea that the lives of the animals in their business model matter.</p><p>At the same time, we have also been reaching out to family farmers, who themselves have been badly threatened and compromised by industrialization in agriculture. They have seen their ranks shrink dramatically in the last four decades, with rural communities being hollowed out around the nation. We have lost 95 percent of egg farmers, 90 percent of pig producers, and 88 percent of dairy producers in the last 40 years. They&rsquo;ve fallen victim to politicians and Big Ag trade associations pursuing anti-competitive policies and practices and securing subsidies favoring the biggest operators. In some cases, as with <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/07/state-federal-lawmakers-sniffing-checkoff-cronyism.html?credit=blog_em_081417_id9184">commodity checkoff programs</a>, the money that family farmers have been obligated to pay has been used against them and their own fundamental interests.</p><p>So many of these family farmers recoil in the face of the harsh, unforgiving practices in industrial agriculture. They are natural allies of humane advocates. For a long time, many of these independent family farmers did not have strong allies in fighting these forces. They do now in the form of The HSUS, and we, too, are strengthened by their joining our team.</p><p>That&rsquo;s where the <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2016/05/hsus-national-agriculture-advisory-council.html?credit=blog_em_081417_id9184">HSUS State and National Agriculture Advisory Councils </a>come into play. A vital element of our global pro-animal coalition is the voice of the farmers and ranchers who embrace animal welfare and sustainability as guiding principles in their business, personal, and spiritual lives.</p><p>These farmers are advocating for the better treatment of farm animals. They also seek reform of the federal commodity checkoff program, and our national checkoff reform coalition has garnered unprecedented momentum thanks to their efforts. Most farmers understand that their checkoff dollars go to unaccountable industry bureaucrats and special interests that represent the worst of factory farming. Mike Callicrate, a Kansas cattle rancher who serves on our national council, likens it to being forced to buy the rope your opponents will hang you with.</p><p>Checkoff programs give hundreds of millions of dollars to unaccountable factory farm organizations that fight against not just family farmers, plant-based small businesses, and the humane treatment of farm animals, but against every step we take toward reforming our nation&rsquo;s laws on puppy mills, violence against pets, and horse abuse &ndash; to name just a few. All animal lovers should care about checkoff programs, because there&rsquo;s a decent chance that these tax dollars go toward blocking sensible animal protection laws in your state and local communities.</p><p>Introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and in the House by Reps. Dave Brat, R-Va., and Dina Titus, D-Nev., the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act of 2017 would institute long-overdue transparency and public accountability measures in a government program that has become a virtual slush fund for factory farmers. Our Agriculture Council members attended meetings with U.S. Representatives and Senators in July to urge them to cosponsor and support the <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/farm-bill-ban-eating-dogs-horses-along-instituting-key-animal-welfare-reforms.html?credit=blog_em_081417_id9184">OFF Act</a>, and they met with officials from several agencies within the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support rules to promote family farming, more fair access to markets, and consumer choice.</p><p>The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and other players in Big Ag are frightened by the idea of animal advocates and thousands of American farmers uniting to address their common concerns and to call for agricultural practices that make more sense for animals and for rural communities. One compelling example is the proposed <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/06/consumers-farmers-deluge-usda-support-organic-livestock-poultry-practices-rule.html?credit=blog_em_081417_id9184">Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule</a>, which calls for elevated animal welfare standards in this domain of agriculture. This new standard will give consumers more confidence in the &ldquo;organic&rdquo; label and spur more consumers to trust that these products were produced with higher standards. That will take animals out of confinement and into the outdoors and it will keep more farmers on the land, by allowing them to sell value-added products and earn a livelihood. Yet, almost certainly with checkoff dollars collected from organic and other family farmers, NPPC and the National Cattlemen&rsquo;s Beef Association are lobbying to gut this rule and hurt family farmers who would benefit from enhanced standards and the consumer confidence.</p><p>The HSUS and family farmers are a mightily powerful coalition, and with new farmers coming on board every week, and new agriculture councils forming in states that previously were not part of our program, it is an exciting time for the movement for better treatment of animals and sustainable, organic agriculture. Consumers expect standards of decency in agriculture, and common sense and our age-old bonds with animals call us to fight for them.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/hsus-unites-family-farmers-food-retailers-drive-positive-reforms-animal-agriculture.html">The HSUS unites with family farmers and food retailers to drive positive reforms in animal agriculture</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/hsus/wayne/~4/rpJ-QBdQsKQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PIG-ISTOCK_000002432631_291767-e1502731207228-298x200.jpg2https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/hsus-unites-family-farmers-food-retailers-drive-positive-reforms-animal-agriculture.html?credit=blog_em_081417_id9184Wayne Pacellehttp://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91822017-08-11T17:17:27Z2017-08-11T17:17:27Z

There has been an industry-wide shift towards cage-free purchasing practices resulting in large food service companies -- like Sodexo and Darden -- meeting animal welfare commitment goals well ahead of schedule. Today we celebrate these positive changes while still recognizing that there is still much work to be done to improve animal welfare conditions in industrial agriculture. Photo by David Paul Morris/For The HSUS

In 2015, Sodexo—one of the world’s largest food service companies—worked with The HSUS to announce that it would eliminate cage confinement of chickens from its egg supply by switching to 100 percent cage-free eggs. The company was an early mover in an industry-wide shift toward cage-free purchasing practices. But because conventional cage production came to . . .

]]><img width="620" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20150328DPM417_HILLIKER_272093-620x413.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20150328DPM417_HILLIKER_272093-620x413.jpg 620w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20150328DPM417_HILLIKER_272093-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20150328DPM417_HILLIKER_272093-768x513.jpg 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20150328DPM417_HILLIKER_272093-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20150328DPM417_HILLIKER_272093-1220x814.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px"><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">There has been an industry-wide shift towards cage-free purchasing practices resulting in large food service companies -- like Sodexo and Darden -- meeting animal welfare commitment goals well ahead of schedule. Today we celebrate these positive changes while still recognizing that there is still much work to be done to improve animal welfare conditions in industrial agriculture. <span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;">Photo by David Paul Morris/For The HSUS</span></p><p>In 2015, Sodexo&mdash;one of the world&rsquo;s largest food service companies&mdash;<a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/02/sodexo-will-go-cage-free.html?credit=blog_em_081117_id9182" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worked with The HSUS to announce</a> that it would eliminate cage confinement of chickens from its egg supply by switching to 100 percent cage-free eggs. The company was an early mover in an <a href="http://welfarecommitments.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">industry-wide shift</a> toward cage-free purchasing practices.</p><p>But because conventional cage production came to dominate the industry so thoroughly, there was, just until a couple of years ago, relatively little infrastructure developed to produce eggs by the billions from cage-free farms. This meant that major food retailers couldn&rsquo;t make the conversion to a cage-free egg supply in short order. There were not enough producers with hens living in cage-free settings.</p><p>We understood that these companies had to embrace lengthy phase-ins while new cage-free capacity was created; for Sodexo, that goal was 2025. Now, just <em>two years</em> into its 10-year time horizon to fulfill its pledge of going 100 percent cage free, Sodexo <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sodexo-cracks-its-commitment-to-buy-cage-free-eggs-and-open-sow-housed-pork-in-the-us-300500928.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has announced</a> that it will meet its goal&mdash;and much quicker than anticipated, with a whopping 70 percent of all its eggs on track to be cage-free by spring of next year.</p><p>Similarly, in 2016, The HSUS teamed up with Darden&mdash;operator of Olive Garden and other leading restaurant chains&mdash;to <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/consumer/os-darden-cage-free-eggs-20160401-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announce</a> that the company would switch to 100 percent cage-free eggs for all of its products. The timeline Darden gave itself and its suppliers to make the conversion? Just two years&mdash;by 2018. And how is Darden living up to that commitment? &ldquo;We are on track to meet our goal of sourcing all of our egg products from cage-free housing farms by the end of this year,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.darden.com/citizenship/plate/food-principles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to an update</a> on Darden&rsquo;s website.</p><p>This progress extends beyond food retailers to the agricultural companies actually producing animal products. Last year, we helped Perdue&mdash;one of the largest poultry producers&mdash;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/27/business/perdue-aims-to-make-chickens-happier-and-more-comfortable.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announce</a> that it would move forward on a suite of important animal welfare reforms to provide chickens with better living conditions and to render the conditions of slaughter less cruel. Fast forward to this year, and the company <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/07/perdue-farms-broiler-chicken-reforms.html?credit=blog_em_081117_id9182" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has already announced</a> further progress toward that goal.</p><p>And the progress reaches beyond our borders as well. In response to a groundswell of animal welfare commitments in South America&mdash;thanks to the work of Humane Society International and other organizations&mdash;Grupo Mantiqueira (one of the 12 largest egg producers in the world and the largest egg producer in Brazil and South America) <a href="http://www.avisite.com.br/index.php?page=noticiasclippings&amp;id=30599" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has announced</a> a new cage-free line. This is the first time the company has invested in producing cage-free eggs, and will undoubtedly help companies in the region meet their animal welfare pledges.</p><p>Of course, there are still major animal welfare problems in industrial agriculture. Hundreds of millions of animals remain locked in cages and crates, and billions more are suffering in other ways. But let&rsquo;s celebrate the idea that there are strong signals for positive movement and indicators of larger changes on the horizon. We&rsquo;re committed to driving things forward&mdash;not only by working with companies to continue making pledges to eliminate cruel practices, but also by seeing those commitments brought to fruition. And if these latest signs coming from the food industry are any indicator, transformative change for animals is upon us and gaining momentum.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/xoxo-sodexo-darden-others-hitting-marks-animal-welfare-commitments.html">XOXO to Sodexo, Darden, and others for hitting their marks on animal welfare commitments</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/hsus/wayne/~4/kgKu7MO4uNA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20150328DPM417_HILLIKER_272093-300x200.jpg0https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/xoxo-sodexo-darden-others-hitting-marks-animal-welfare-commitments.html?credit=blog_em_081117_id9182Wayne Pacellehttp://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91812017-08-10T20:25:14Z2017-08-10T20:25:14Z

This year's Farm Bill presents an opportunity for Congress to pass several animal protection bills, two of which -- the PAST Act and the SAFE Act -- would take great strides to improve the lives of horses. Photo by Ashlei Martin/Black Beauty Ranch

Americans shouldn’t butcher dogs or horses, or enable the activity, and then sell the meat for human consumption, and Congress can make that the law of the land as it pieces together the far-flung provisions of the Farm Bill in the coming months. Our thriving agricultural sector is successful enough that we as a nation . . .

]]><img width="620" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AM_PHOTOS_7.31.15_079_303518-620x413.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AM_PHOTOS_7.31.15_079_303518-620x413.jpg 620w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AM_PHOTOS_7.31.15_079_303518-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AM_PHOTOS_7.31.15_079_303518-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AM_PHOTOS_7.31.15_079_303518-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AM_PHOTOS_7.31.15_079_303518-1220x813.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px"><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">This year's Farm Bill presents an opportunity for Congress to pass several animal protection bills, two of which -- the PAST Act and the SAFE Act -- would take great strides to improve the lives of horses. <span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;">Photo by Ashlei Martin/Black Beauty Ranch</span></p><p>Americans shouldn&rsquo;t butcher dogs or horses, or enable the activity, and then sell the meat for human consumption, and Congress can make that the law of the land as it pieces together the far-flung provisions of the Farm Bill in the coming months. Our thriving agricultural sector is successful enough that we as a nation don&rsquo;t have to resort to the desperate, deplorable strategy of killing dogs and horses to put food on the table or dimes in our pockets. These animals&mdash;our companions&mdash;have never been raised for food in the United States, and it&rsquo;s a betrayal of our bond with them to steal, buy, or gather up these animals for the pot or the plate.</p><p>Lawmakers on the Agriculture Committees in Congress are conducting hearings on a wide range of agriculture policy issues as they take steps to ready the federal Farm Bill&mdash;a mish-mash of food and farm issues bundled into a massive package roughly every five years. Several free-standing animal welfare bills, which already have tremendous bipartisan support in the Congress, are ripe for being incorporated into the Farm Bill. Collectively they seek to codify our cultural antipathy for killing and eating cats, dogs, and horses and to crack down on other forms of animal cruelty and misuse of funds.</p><p><strong>The Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act (H.R. 1406)</strong>, introduced by Reps. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Dave Trott, R-Mich., and Brendan Boyle, D-Pa. amends the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the slaughter, trade, import, or export of dogs and cats for human consumption. The bill prevents the dog and cat meat trade from taking hold in the U.S. while strengthening our country&rsquo;s moral standing to press for reform worldwide at a time when we are asking China, South Korea, and other southeast Asian nations to take a stand on the issue.</p><p><strong>The Safeguard American Food Exports Act (H.R. 113/S. 1706)</strong> protects horses and consumers by prohibiting the transport and export of U.S. horses to slaughter for human consumption. American horses are not raised for food, and in the normal course of using them for other purposes, their owners give them dozens of drugs over their lifetimes that can be toxic to humans if their meat is ingested. As with dog meat, there are foreign markets, but thankfully no meaningful domestic consumption. Yet, in contrast to the dog meat issue, there are healthy American horses funneled into the slaughter pipeline&mdash;more than 100,000 a year. The House bill, introduced by Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Ed Royce, R-Calif., and Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., and the Senate bill, introduced by Senators Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, have tremendous support, and all it will take to get these bills done is to give them a free and fair vote.</p><p>Congress has been careless in completing its work in cracking down on the festering problem of horse soring&mdash;the intentional injuring of the front limbs of show horses by chemical or mechanical means to cause them to exaggerate their natural gait and perform the pain-based &ldquo;Big Lick.&rdquo; The Big Lick segment of the industry&mdash;the trainers and owners conducting or abiding by the abuse&mdash;has proved that it won&rsquo;t eradicate the problem and instead will keep defying appropriate standards of care for horses. This is where the government must step in to stop this appalling form of animal cruelty. <strong>The Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (H.R. 1847)</strong>, by Reps. Ted Yoho, R-Fla. and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., would amend the nearly 50-year old weak federal law to end the failed system of industry self-policing, ban devices integral to soring (including large stacked shoes and ankle chains), strengthen penalties, and hold abusers accountable. The bill currently has 252 House cosponsors, and the Senate should see introduction of a companion bill soon. USDA is the agency responsible for enforcing the Horse Protection Act that PAST amends, so the Farm Bill is a logical place to consider an upgrade to the law.</p><p>In each of the last three Farm Bills&mdash;enacted in 2002, 2008, and 2013&mdash;Congress upgraded the federal animal fighting law. Lawmakers are gearing up to introduce legislation in September to clarify that federal law forbids animal fighting everywhere in the U.S., including in U.S. territories, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere, building on the legal framework that criminalizes staged fights between animals. No jurisdiction within the United States should be an enclave or refuge for this kind of intentional cruelty.</p><p><strong>The Pet And Women Safety Act (H.R. 909/ S. 322)</strong> has 231 House cosponsors, including co-leads Reps. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., Rick Nolan, D-Minn., Jeff Denham, R-Calif., Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., and Mimi Walters, R-Calif., and the Senate bill has 18 cosponsors, including co-leads Senators Gary Peters, D-Mich. and Dean Heller, R-Nev. The bills protect battered domestic partners and their pets by extending current federal domestic violence protections to include pets, and authorizes a small amount of grant money to help domestic violence shelters accommodate pets or arrange for pet sheltering.</p><p>The Farm Bill also presents an opportunity to pass the <strong>Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act (H.R. 1753/ S. 741)</strong>, introduced by Reps. Dave Brat, R-Va. and Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Senators Mike Lee, R-Utah and Cory Booker, D-N.J. Checkoff programs are taxes imposed on agricultural industries that provide hundreds of millions of dollars to opponents of the humane treatment of animals. USDA&rsquo;s lax oversight has resulted in collusive and suspect relationships between USDA checkoff boards and lobbying organizations that ultimately harm animals and farmers who believe in animal stewardship. The OFF Act would provide accountability, transparency, and an auditing program for the USDA&rsquo;s commodity checkoff programs so the funds can be used as they were intended. A coalition of farming, animal welfare, and conservative organizations support this reform.</p><p>Traditionally, the Farm Bill has also been the stage for some lawmakers to try to undermine animal welfare. Reps. Steve King, R-Iowa and Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. have both introduced bills that would invalidate state laws that help animals, including those meant to uphold animal welfare and food safety standards. In short, they are trying to preempt the states from taking action on animal welfare issue, but these are the same lawmakers who have stood in the way of even the most limited, industry-approved federal protections for farm animals. In 2011, in the run-up to the last Farm Bill, the United Egg Producers and The HSUS developed a rational plan to transition the egg industry to a new future, giving at a minimum the birds more space and some limited enrichments. The vast majority of major egg producers embraced it, yet these lawmakers and their allies couldn&rsquo;t even find a way to support it. When you want to wipe out state animal welfare laws, and you block federal farm animal welfare laws, it means you just plain don&rsquo;t support animal welfare. No one should fall for their trumped-up constitutional arguments, which haven&rsquo;t prevailed in the courts.</p><p>Animals are at the center of the agricultural economy, and that means the welfare of the animals should be at the center of our thinking. There has been enormous activity in the corporate sector and at the state level to proactively address animal welfare. Most of this activity has occurred since the last Farm Bill. Within the last few years, virtually every major food company&mdash;from McDonald&rsquo;s and Denny&rsquo;s to Walmart and Costco&mdash;has adopted a timeline for switching to 100 percent cage-free eggs. The biggest pork producer, Smithfield, has now converted nearly 90 percent of its company-owned breeding sows to group housing and will have its contractors doing the same by 2022. The American Veal Association says virtually all calves will be in group housing by the end of 2017. Voters have approved by commanding margins every statewide ballot initiative calling for an end to extreme confinement of farm animals. Last November, Massachusetts voters favored Question 3&mdash;to forbid extreme confinement of laying hens, pigs, and veal calves, and prevent sales of those products within and into Massachusetts &mdash;with 78 percent of the vote, prevailing in 348 of 351 towns.</p><p>When Congress completed the 2002 Farm Bill, there was not a single state or major food retailer that had adopted anti-confinement policies for farm animals. When Congress approved the 2008 bill, California voters had not yet approved Prop 2, subsequently passing the measure in 47 of 58 counties in the state. And in 2013 when the last Farm Bill was completed, we had not yet seen 250 major food companies embrace animal welfare as they now have. The ground has shifted on animal welfare issues, and federal lawmakers should take note.</p><p>The Congress can take up the pro-animal, good government measures as free-standing bills. But if lawmakers don&rsquo;t, the Farm bill is the right vehicle to improve our nation&rsquo;s animal welfare programs to build new standards for treating animals well. That would be the right outcome for the nation.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/farm-bill-ban-eating-dogs-horses-along-instituting-key-animal-welfare-reforms.html">Farm Bill should ban eating dogs and horses, along with instituting other key animal welfare reforms</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/hsus/wayne/~4/7dmmLO-zqqo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AM_PHOTOS_7.31.15_079_303518-300x200.jpg4https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/farm-bill-ban-eating-dogs-horses-along-instituting-key-animal-welfare-reforms.html?credit=blog_em_081017_id9181Wayne Pacellehttp://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91792017-08-09T12:32:24Z2017-08-09T12:32:24Z

Sonic's announcement of new policies to bring about better conditions for all the chickens in its supply chain will surely reverberate through the poultry sector. Photo by iStockphoto

Today, the national fast food chain Sonic has announced new policies to bring about better conditions for all the chickens in its supply chain. The Oklahoma-based company serves food to more than three million customers each day at its 3,500 locations, so this announcement will surely reverberate through the poultry sector. Sonic joins the surging . . .

]]><img width="620" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CHICKENS-ISTOCK_000041947088_314694-620x413.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CHICKENS-ISTOCK_000041947088_314694-620x413.jpg 620w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CHICKENS-ISTOCK_000041947088_314694-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CHICKENS-ISTOCK_000041947088_314694-768x511.jpg 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CHICKENS-ISTOCK_000041947088_314694-1200x798.jpg 1200w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CHICKENS-ISTOCK_000041947088_314694-1220x812.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px"><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Sonic's announcement of new policies to bring about better conditions for all the chickens in its supply chain will surely reverberate through the poultry sector. <span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;">Photo by iStockphoto</span></p><p>Today, the national fast food chain Sonic has <a href="https://corporate.sonicdrivein.com/animal-welfare" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced new policies</a> to bring about better conditions for all the chickens in its supply chain. The Oklahoma-based company serves food to more than three million customers each day at its 3,500 locations, so this announcement will surely reverberate through the poultry sector.</p><p>Sonic joins the surging ranks of retailers interested in animal welfare. Over the last several months, fast food giants like Burger King, Subway, and Jack in the Box; food service operators such as Aramark, Sodexo, and Compass Group; and dozens of other companies have made similar announcements. Even Perdue&mdash;one of the country&rsquo;s largest chicken producers&mdash;has a made a series of <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/07/perdue-farms-broiler-chicken-reforms.html?credit=blog_em_080917_id9179" target="_blank" rel="noopener">groundbreaking announcements</a> committing to address these animal welfare concerns.</p><p>These companies&rsquo; announcements are part of the response to our &ldquo;9 Billion Lives&rdquo; campaign, aiming to overhaul how the chicken industry treats birds raised for meat. Specifically, they&rsquo;re mandating ameliorative changes in breeding (so the birds&rsquo; rapid growth isn&rsquo;t causing immense suffering to their young bodies), the amount of room birds are given, the living conditions the animals are afforded (they&rsquo;ll have enrichments like perches and hay bales so they can engage in natural behaviors), and a switch to Controlled Atmosphere Stunning (so birds are rendered unconscious prior to being shackled during slaughter).</p><p>Even as we and other animal protection organizations continue making headway toward replacing these outdated, cruel systems&mdash;and even as large-scale customers like Sonic demand change&mdash;some in the industry still seem to have their heads in the sand. Reports from the industry&rsquo;s recent &ldquo;Chicken Marketing Summit,&rdquo; for example, assert that consumer concerns about animal welfare stem from &ldquo;misguided beliefs&rdquo; and call those concerns &ldquo;a farce.&rdquo; At the Summit, Bill Lovette, CEO of Pilgrim&rsquo;s Pride&mdash;one of the largest chicken producers&mdash;held firm to this belief, bemoaning that &ldquo;consumers just don&rsquo;t understand what we do.&rdquo;</p><p>For anyone in industry to think all is well in conventional poultry production is an example of willful denial. And Lovette&rsquo;s claims, specifically, are particularly tone-deaf. Just a few weeks ago, we <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/06/breaking-news-hsus-undercover-video-reveals-pilgrims-pride-much-hide.html?credit=blog_em_080917_id9179" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released details</a> of a multi-state undercover investigation into a Pilgrim&rsquo;s Pride contract farm and company-owned slaughterhouse that documented a farm owner bludgeoning animals with a metal rod, and slaughterhouse workers punching birds and maliciously abusing them in other ways. To Mr. Lovette and others in the industry who think consumers&rsquo; concerns about animal welfare stem from a naivet&eacute; about poultry production, perhaps it&rsquo;s time for them to take ownership of animal welfare issues rather than treat them as optional features of their production standards. Perdue <a href="http://waynefarms.com/wayne-farms-media/news-releases/161-wayne-farms-launches-gap-step-2-rated-products" target="_blank" rel="noopener">and other</a> poultry producers are showing leadership and embracing the advancement of broiler chicken welfare, and it&rsquo;s time that the rest of the industry follow suit.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/super-sonic-progress-chickens-even-poultry-industry-attempt-dig.html">Super Sonic progress for chickens, even as some in the poultry industry attempt to dig in</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/hsus/wayne/~4/73pKxp62oqQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CHICKENS-ISTOCK_000041947088_314694-300x200.jpg0https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/super-sonic-progress-chickens-even-poultry-industry-attempt-dig.html?credit=blog_em_080917_id9179Wayne Pacellehttp://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91762017-08-08T18:53:30Z2017-08-08T18:53:30Z

Check out Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature in theaters this Friday, August 11! Photo courtesy of Open Road Films

Films have long been inviting us to rethink the way we view animals—a studious spider who weaves words about saving a pig from the dinner plate, a terrified baby elephant yanked from his mother and forced to perform in a circus, a clownfish who journeys far across the ocean to rescue a son swiped from . . .

]]><img width="606" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/NutJob2_AllAnimals_1-2-Horizontal_4C_REV1_x1a-606x413.png" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/NutJob2_AllAnimals_1-2-Horizontal_4C_REV1_x1a-606x413.png 606w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/NutJob2_AllAnimals_1-2-Horizontal_4C_REV1_x1a-294x200.png 294w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/NutJob2_AllAnimals_1-2-Horizontal_4C_REV1_x1a-768x523.png 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/NutJob2_AllAnimals_1-2-Horizontal_4C_REV1_x1a-1174x800.png 1174w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/NutJob2_AllAnimals_1-2-Horizontal_4C_REV1_x1a-1220x831.png 1220w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/NutJob2_AllAnimals_1-2-Horizontal_4C_REV1_x1a-1204x820.png 1204w" sizes="(max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px"><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Check out Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature in theaters this Friday, August 11! <span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;">Photo courtesy of Open Road Films</span></p><p>Films have long been inviting us to rethink the way we view animals&mdash;a studious spider who weaves words about saving a pig from the dinner plate, a terrified baby elephant yanked from his mother and forced to perform in a circus, a clownfish who journeys far across the ocean to rescue a son swiped from his home and plopped in a fish tank.</p><p>Ask advocates what first inspired their compassion for animals, and often they recall a story like one of these. <em>Charlotte&rsquo;s Web</em>, <em>Dumbo</em>, <em>Finding Nemo</em>, and countless other movies over the years have presented a glimpse inside the hearts and minds of beings we often overlook. Although the characters are fictional, their emotions are real and relatable&mdash;drawing a connection in even the youngest of hearts that calls us to regard all animals with respect. The stories introduce us to issues of animal protection, and they open doors to broader conversations about the ways in which we as humans must do better.</p><p>This week, a new film contributes to understanding about threats to animals. In <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arC0weQORMU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature</a></em>, which opens Friday, a resourceful squirrel stops at nothing to save his habitat from development. A profit-hungry mayor plans to rip out the city park to build an amusement park, highlighting a very real problem for wildlife.</p><p>Habitat loss is the single greatest threat to wildlife around the world. When bulldozers move in to clear space for another shopping center or condo development, the animals have no choice but to flee. And that&rsquo;s if they&rsquo;re not crushed or buried before they&rsquo;re flushed. Squirrels, owls, and other birds are killed when their lofty treetop homes come crashing down to earth. Gopher tortoises, who burrow themselves deep in the sandy soil of the southeast, are often buried alive by development, entombed forever under the foundation of a big-box retailer or housing complex. (That&rsquo;s a very familiar issue to us at The HSUS, given our efforts to <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2013/06/gopher-tortoises-rescued-in-florida.html?credit=blog_em_080817_id9176" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dig out and save</a> more than 5,000 gopher tortoises.)</p><div class="arve-wrapper" data-mode="normal" data-provider="youtube" id="video-k1sIJ1nzU6Y" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/VideoObject"><div class="arve-embed-container" style="padding-bottom:56.250000%"><meta itemprop="name" content="Gopher Tortoises Rescued"><iframe allowfullscreen class="arve-iframe fitvidsignore" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k1sIJ1nzU6Y?wmode=transparent&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;modestbranding=0&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;autoplay=0" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups" width="480" height="270"></iframe></div></div><p>The stakes are high for so many animals, and so many adults don&rsquo;t like to think about how our daily activities produce these effects. It&rsquo;s a weighty problem for kids to comprehend, so how does a children&rsquo;s movie even begin to approach the subject without being preachy or overbearing? The answer: with a purple squirrel named Surly and his band of charismatic friends. Chipmunks, pigeons, woodchucks, squirrels, a rat, a mole, and a pug all refuse to &ldquo;tuck tail and run&rdquo; from the mayor&rsquo;s horrible plan. When obstacles mount, Surly and an army of mice put aside their differences and collaborate on an elaborate plan to take back the park.</p><p>While filled with slapstick humor and silly antics, the film burrows into our consciousness. The mayor&rsquo;s mansion is decorated with the heads of exotic animals and his chair is flanked by two gigantic elephant tusks, while his daughter is unkind to her dog and delights in shooting at animals with a sling shot. The storyline forces adults to think about the ramifications of sprawling development, trophy hunting and inhumane wildlife control practices and it offers a starting point for conversations with kids about how to treat animals.</p><p>It also illustrates the power of perseverance. Here at The HSUS, we fight the big fights against opponents very much like that mayor&mdash;opponents who seek to harm animals in the name of profit. With you alongside us, we are creating a more humane economy and protecting all animals, including the victims of habitat destruction. Individually we might be small, Surly says, &ldquo;but together, we are giants.&rdquo; I couldn&rsquo;t agree more.</p><p>Movies like this&mdash;and <em>Charlotte&rsquo;s Web</em>, <em>Bambi</em>, and <em>Dumbo</em> and all of the others that planted the seeds of awareness and action&mdash;change the cultural atmospherics in our society for the better, orienting them around our issues. We are the creature of conscience, and we are also the creators of so much pain and suffering for animals. We must decide to be one or the other. The task of protecting animals&rsquo; homes&mdash;and their very lives&mdash;requires our determined, collective efforts. To do anything less is, well, just plain nuts.</p><blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>You can help us continue to protect all animals and their homes by texting NUTJOB to 20222.*</strong></p>
</blockquote><p>*If you donate by text, message &amp; data rates may apply. A one-time donation of <strong>$10.00</strong> will be added to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid balance. All donations must be authorized by the account holder. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. User must be 18 or older or have parental permission to participate. By texting YES, the user agrees to the terms and conditions. Service is available on most carriers. Donations are collected for the benefit of the Humane Society of the US by the Mobile Giving Foundation and subject to the terms found at <a href="http://www.hmgf.org/t" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.hmgf.org/t</a>. Messaging &amp; Data Rates May Apply. You can unsubscribe at any time by texting <strong>STOP</strong> to short code 20222; text HELP to 20222 for help. Privacy policy can be found at <a href="http://www.humanesociety.org/privacy?credit=blog_em_080817_id9176" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.humanesociety.org/privacy</a>.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/bambi-charlottes-web-nut-job-2-film-powerful-force-animal-protection.html">From Bambi to Charlotte’s Web to Nut Job 2, film is a powerful force for animal protection</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/hsus/wayne/~4/R8XPMlGbMX4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/NutJob2_AllAnimals_1-2-Horizontal_4C_REV1_x1a-294x200.png0https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/bambi-charlottes-web-nut-job-2-film-powerful-force-animal-protection.html?credit=blog_em_080817_id9176Wayne Pacellehttp://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91752017-08-07T21:47:11Z2017-08-07T21:16:09Z

Wolf Advisory Group has turned Washington State towards a progressive path that should be a model to other states for native carnivore management. Photo by Alamy

Wolves are in the crosshairs of trophy hunters, commercial trappers, ranchers, state and federal lawmakers, and state and federal wildlife managers in established areas of their range throughout North America. We are a counter-weight to those threats, particularly in the United States, and last week, The HSUS won a signature battle for wolves. The U.S. . . .

]]><img width="620" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wolf-interior-spending-bill-620x413.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wolf-interior-spending-bill-620x413.jpg 620w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wolf-interior-spending-bill-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wolf-interior-spending-bill-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wolf-interior-spending-bill-1220x810.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px"><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Wolf Advisory Group has turned Washington State towards a progressive path that should be a model to other states for native carnivore management. <span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;">Photo by Alamy</span></p><p>Wolves are in the crosshairs of trophy hunters, commercial trappers, ranchers, state and federal lawmakers, and state and federal wildlife managers in established areas of their range throughout North America. We are a counter-weight to those threats, particularly in the United States, and last week, The HSUS won a signature battle for wolves. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed a lower court ruling and continued to block federal delisting of wolves in the northern Great Lakes region, chiding the USFWS for taking a piecemeal approach to wolf recovery and &ldquo;call[ing] it quits&rdquo; too early. Our prior win in the U.S. District Court in December 2014 has itself spared more than 2,000 wolves from being killed by trophy hunters and commercial trappers in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.</p><p>Despite these wins in the courts, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are trying to do an end-around the established system for listing and de-listing species and subvert judicial review of those decisions in an attempt to remove federal protections for wolves. That battle is ongoing and intense. In a separate assault on wolves, Congress earlier this year did succeed, despite our best efforts, in nullifying a critical U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule that restricted ruthless killing of wolves, including by hunting them during the denning season, on 76 million acres of national wildlife refuges.</p><p>That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s so important to see a state fish and wildlife agency chart a different, more cooperative, less harmful course in the management of human relations with wolves. Washington&rsquo;s state wildlife agency is doing just that.</p><p>The Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) in Washington state, which may have as many as 150 wolves, has convened a stakeholder group &ndash; the Wolf Advisory Group (WAG) &ndash; to collect input to help guide the agency on wolf matters. Trophy hunting and commercial trapping have been taken off the table, and now the array of stakeholders &ndash; from The HSUS to Conservation Northwest to the Washington Cattlemen&rsquo;s Association &ndash; have set up standards for the management of wolves, with killing something of a last resort.</p><p>While still a work in progress, and there are still occasional lethal actions taken against wolves, the WAG has turned Washington towards a progressive path that should be a model to other states for native carnivore management. If the agricultural community could constructively participate in a collaborative processes to accept and rationally manage wolves, grizzly bears, cougars and other native carnivores, these ecologically-critical species could thrive, and no longer be persecuted.</p><p>Before the WAG process, most Washington ranchers saw little value in wolves on the landscape and had no incentive to accept them &ndash; exhibiting the same hostile mentality that we see from ranchers in the Northern Rockies and the Upper Great Lakes region. Now, the Washington ranchers must manage wolves by <a href="http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_wolf/livestock/livestock_wolf_mitigation_checklist_.pdf">non-lethal means</a>, and only appeal to the state to kill animals after every other option has been tried.</p><p>That said, it hasn&rsquo;t always turned out the way wolf advocates want. In 2016, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife attempted to kill all members of the Profanity Peak wolf pack in response to livestock predation. While the state succeeded in killing seven out of the fifteen Profanity Peak wolves, and the loss of those individuals is unthinkably sad and an overreach in our view, I cannot help but note that the nearby state of Idaho killed more than 250 wolves in that same year. Government agents killed 52 wolves in 2016 for livestock predation reasons, and trophy hunters and trappers killed another 200. And things are getting worse for wolves:</p><ul>
<li>In July 2017, Idaho Game and Fish took public comments on its proposal to allow hunters to bait wolves (and even queried whether live animals could be used as bait), even as it already permits year-round hunting, including killing dependent pups and their parents at the den in some zones.</li>
<li>In June 2017, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department implemented the state&rsquo;s management plan that includes over 80 percent of the state as an unlimited wolf-killing zone; it designated no manner of take and no bag limits on wolves. As a result, unrestrained wolf killing is permitted in most of Wyoming.</li>
</ul><p>The HSUS representative and other pro-animal, pro-conservation representatives were not silent and didn&rsquo;t accept passively the standards that guided Washington state to attempt to kill the members of the Profanity Peak pack. As part of the WAG process in the months that followed, they raised strenuous objections to the full-pack-removal protocols. As a result, full-pack-removals are no longer permitted in Washington and even more conservative rules for wolf killing are in play. Now, wolf killings are viewed by all stakeholders as a tool of last resort, with the goal to increase healthy wolf populations while minimizing conflict. And without a doubt, Washington wolves are better protected than wolves in every state where they number more than 100 animals.</p><p>Unfortunately, wolves from Washington&rsquo;s Smackout pack have injured or killed four cattle this year on land where the rancher had used non-lethal alternatives for seven years&mdash;including using multiple range-riders&mdash;and the Sherman wolf pack has attacked at least three cows.</p><p>WDFW killed two wolves, and we hope that&rsquo;s the last of the killing. Again, for animal advocates, and especially for the wolves, these are terrible outcomes. If the same set of facts existed in other states, it is important to remember, the reprisals against the wolves would have been far more severe. The influence of the WAG has tempered the passions of people traditionally bent on killing as many wolves as the law allows.</p><p>The director of WDFW and his staff make the final call on any lethal removal action, not the WAG. What&rsquo;s more, the WAG cannot administer to the ranching of cattle on federal public lands. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 (43 USC 315) authorizes livestock grazing upon federal public lands in the West and the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) set the stocking rates and assess grazing fees ($1.87 for the forage consumed by a cow and her calf for an entire month). As a result, the U.S. Forest Service and BLM give western livestock grazers heavy subsidies, ostensibly to offset losses from predators, even as the <a href="http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/wildlife/wildlife-services-white-paper-2015.pdf?credit=blog_post_080717_blog_em_080717_id9175">U.S. Department of Agriculture&rsquo;s &ldquo;Wildlife Services&rdquo; program kills about 100,000 mammalian carnivores each year.</a></p><p>The WAG process is difficult and it is imperfect. No one at The HSUS wants wolves killed because of overly permissive and poorly-regulated public lands grazing activities. Grazing livestock on public lands drives so many threats to animals: Wildlife Services&rsquo; indiscriminate wildlife-killing practices; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service&rsquo;s delisting of Yellowstone&rsquo;s grizzly bears from the Endangered Species Act, and the round-up of thousands of wild horses and burros.</p><p>The WAG process is a practical process in a world with conflicting attitudes toward wolves. But it is without question, the best system for wolf management that&rsquo;s been devised.</p><p>The HSUS stands second to no organization in its wolf protection efforts. In Michigan we led and won two ballot measures that reversed wolf hunting and trapping programs&mdash;the first-ever votes of the people on the issue of wolf protection. The HSUS has won several lawsuits to protect wolves in the Great Lakes. We were a party to similar lawsuits in the Northern Rockies. We pushed for the Alaska rules to protect predators on national preserves and national wildlife refuges, and have fought, and are fighting, efforts to unwind those critical rulemaking actions.</p><p>In Washington state, we want to continue to enliven the WAG process and continue to be an advocate for common sense and for wolf protection. Walking away from that process would doom more wolves, and that&rsquo;s not something we can abide.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/tamping-war-wolves.html">Tamping down the war on wolves</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/hsus/wayne/~4/YBC_sDeHJ3I" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wolf-interior-spending-bill-300x200.jpg2https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/tamping-war-wolves.html?credit=blog_em_080717_id9175Wayne Pacellehttp://blog.humanesociety.org/?p=91672017-08-07T16:14:44Z2017-08-03T18:53:31Z

Today's crush in Central Park is the latest mass destruction of seized elephant ivory and rhino horn done in a public setting to raise awareness about the ongoing poaching crisis and the urgent need to stop the demand for wildlife parts. Mark Von Holden/AP Images for The HSUS

With the federal government taking active and intentional steps inimical to animal protection and conservation — launching an assault on native predators, looking to roll back federal protections of national monuments, and distancing our nation from the active global fight against climate change — some of the biggest states are taking on the mantle of . . .

]]><img width="620" height="413" src="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC650_385815-620x413.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="ivory crush" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC650_385815-620x413.jpg 620w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC650_385815-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC650_385815-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC650_385815-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC650_385815-1220x813.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px"><p class="wp-caption-text featured-caption" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;">Today's crush in Central Park is the latest mass destruction of seized elephant ivory and rhino horn done in a public setting to raise awareness about the ongoing poaching crisis and the urgent need to stop the demand for wildlife parts. <span class="wayne-media-credit" style="font-style: italic;">Mark Von Holden/AP Images for The HSUS</span></p><p>With the federal government taking active and intentional steps inimical to animal protection and conservation &mdash; launching an assault on native predators, looking to roll back federal protections of <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/04/trump-leave-national-monuments-alone.html?credit=blog_em_080317_id9167">national monuments</a>, and distancing our nation from the active global fight against climate change &mdash; some of the biggest states are taking on the mantle of leadership and trying to act as a counterweight. Today, New York state, with supporting partners including The HSUS and Humane Society International, had more than a word to say on the issue of wildlife trafficking. State authorities crushed almost two tons of confiscated illegal elephant ivory in New York City&rsquo;s Central Park.</p><p>This crush is the latest mass destruction of seized elephant ivory and rhino horn done in a public setting to raise awareness about the ongoing <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/11/all-in-on-the-fight-against-poaching-and-wildlife-trafficking.html?credit=blog_em_080317_id9167">poaching crisis</a> and the urgent need to stop the demand for wildlife parts. To date, government officials at events like this one, in about two dozen countries in Africa, Asia, and North America, have destroyed more than 200 tons of seized illicit wildlife products. The point of every action has been the same: to signal that any trade in ivory and other parts of endangered animals is an existential threat to wildlife and consequently to the economies of nations that depend on thriving populations of megafauna.</p><p>This is the third haul of seized ivory crushed in the United States over the past four years, and those seizures collectively demonstrate that the United States still has work to do to curb our domestic ivory market. <a href="http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2014/08/gov-cuomo-signs-new-york-ivory-rhino-horn-ban-081214.html?credit=blog_em_080317_id9167">New York</a> has one of the toughest anti-wildlife trafficking laws, and California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington have <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/06/nevada-joins-list-u-s-states-ban-trafficking-ivory-rhino-horn-shark-fins.html?credit=blog_em_080317_id9167">passed similarly strong laws</a> further clamping down on the sale of these products within their own borders (The HSUS and HSI have led the fight for the enactment of these measures). The <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/07/obama-announces-landmark-ivory-trade-ban.html?credit=blog_em_080317_id9167">Obama administration</a> adopted national restrictions on the import, export, and interstate trade of ivory, and officers in these seven states are making cases, and putting a major dent in the trade.</p><div id="attachment_9170" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 620px;"><a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC215_385749.jpg?credit=blog_em_080317_id9167"><img class="size-medium wp-image-9170" src="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC215_385749-620x413.jpg" alt="" width="620" height="413" srcset="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC215_385749-620x413.jpg 620w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC215_385749-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC215_385749-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC215_385749-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HSNYC215_385749-1220x813.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px"></a><p class="wp-caption-text" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; color: #666666; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 10px; text-align: left; font-style: italic;">No one needs ivory trinkets and vanity items. The cost of consuming them is incalculable, both to our planet and to our wildlife, and a bad bargain for us all. <span class="wayne-media-credit">Photo by Mark Von Holden/AP Images for The HSUS</span></p></div><p>But we know that unscrupulous smugglers, traffickers, and dealers will continue to launder illicit ivory products to the market and sell them to unsuspecting customers. As some states take action to combat the wildlife trade within their own borders, the markets for these products inevitably move to other states with weaker laws and regulations. A <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/wildlife-watch-washington-elephant-ivory-for-sale-united-states/">report</a> published last week found that recent federal regulatory changes and tightened states laws have been effective at decreasing the market for ivory. However, metropolitan regions without local restrictions, such as the greater Washington, D.C. area, are now emerging as the largest markets for ivory. The trade in ivory has also increasingly shifted to the online marketplace.</p><p>The HSUS is working with lawmakers in the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania to pass measures that would prohibit the sale of elephant ivory and other wildlife parts. <a href="http://hsi.org/">Humane Society International</a> is working to shut down ivory markets in key ivory consuming countries, such as Japan. <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/01/china-cracks-ivory-trade-u-s-house-sets-attack-obama-era-rules.html?credit=blog_em_080317_id9167">China is on track to close its domestic ivory market </a>by the end of this year.</p><p>Poachers kill as many as 100 elephants a day for their tusks. In September 2016, the <a href="http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2016/08/great-elephant-census-results-released.html?credit=blog_em_080317_id9167">Great Elephant Census</a> revealed a disturbing 30 percent decline in the number of savanna elephants since 2007. Forest elephants in Central Africa have experienced a 65 percent reduction in their populations.</p><p>We thank environmental conservation officers and prosecutors in New York for enforcing that state&rsquo;s groundbreaking 2014 law banning the sale and purchase of elephant ivory. While the ivory crushed today is a grim reminder of the elephant poaching crisis, it also demonstrates how we, as a society, need not be bystanders in the face of this threat. No one needs ivory trinkets and vanity items. The cost of consuming them is incalculable, both to our planet and to our wildlife, and a bad bargain for us all.</p><p></p><p><em>This original post was updated August 7, 2017.</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/08/new-york-state-crushes-ivory-stockpiles-central-park-act-theater-rally-world-ivory-trade.html">New York state crushes ivory stockpiles in Central Park as an act of theater to rally the world against the ivory trade</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org">A Humane Nation</a>.</p>
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